The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

The Interior Ministry’s Kharkiv Regional Department reports that on Sunday, 20 May the police detained a 22-year-old man living in the Kharkiv oblast who confessed to carrying out attacks on foreign students. It says that they removed material evidence proving his involvement in the crimes. These are the only details given about the person detained. The report states that several criminal investigations have been initiated over attacks under the article of the Criminal Code on attempted murder. All the victims have been attacked during the evening with isolated areas being chosen and a knife used.

It is not, unfortunately, clear how many such attacks there have been. Last week the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported two attacks on students from Nigeria which the police were treating as attempted murder motivated by racial intolerance.

A 28-year-old student at the Kharkiv National Radio Electronic University is intensive care with knife injuries to the neck.

A few days earlier a 19-year-old student from the Poltava Agrarian Academy was hospitalized with knife wounds.

Both men are in a serious condition. The report states only that the victims are foreign students.